Mass Effect: Denial
by Der Schreiber
Summary: Set after the events of Mass Effect Arrival and before Mass Effect 3. Denial is about a covert mission being conducted by the Council in a system with a deactivated Mass Relay. Plans go awry as an ancient enemy is discovered.
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect: Denial

"_Even an officially dismissed threat sometimes needs addressing."_ – An STG saying

Chapter 1: Arrival

Four months of hard travel through FTL was finally going to be complete. Steven Hadmir leaned back in his chair and grunted softly. The blue tinged universe around the Tinghar, the turian settlement ship, turned back to black as the stars became visible once again. The unfamiliar stars were in the right alignment and there had been no major malfunctions during the journey.

"Don't look so pleased, human," said Yirank. Steven grimaced as the turian's voice grated against his eardrums. "We still have to wait for confirmation from the sensors that the relay is still in the system."

Steven grunted a little more deeply this time. He was an Alliance Marine that had been stationed with the crew as "security" for this mission. Raised as a spacer kid he had been exposed to many different alien species and cultures for his entire life. He had to admit though, that turians never agreed with him. It wasn't that he was racist, it was just he never could seem to make friends with one. He snorted to himself silently. He had always wondered how the famed Commander Shepard had managed to make that Garrus Valkarian so loyal.

"That look is screwing up your face paint Yirank, you should go reapply it during the lull," said Steven as he made a cursory glance towards his instrumentation. The turian hissed quietly in response and snapped his head back at his own station. Perhaps the friend thing wasn't all the turians' fault…

Steven shuddered in surprise as his comm beeped in his ear three times in rapid succession. He hadn't expected that code to be used at all on this journey. He tapped back against his ears four times slowly and listened.

"The equipment is picking up the profiles of several vessels in low orbit around the second planet. The ships are registering under ancient rachni profiles. Get down to the cargo deck, we need to regroup to decide whether protocol omega comes into play." Steven sighed inwardly as Boost's husky voice halted. He had never met an asari like her before and he hoped he never would again. Then again, she was the Spectre on this trip…

"Roger that, I'm on my way," said Steven as he stood up and walked off the bridge. Yirank looked at the human's back with a sideways glance but didn't say anything. He was administration and Steven was security. He was needed here to make sure the new colony plans were going forward smoothly.

Just a few more days and he would be the administrator of a brand new turian colony. After all of his years of service and upward momentum he would be content to wait a few more years. Perhaps one day his grandchildren would live in a city named after him.

Boost fingered the safety of her classic HMWSG X and checked that it was synched up to her optical implants for the fifth time. It was an older model shotgun but the finest available to Spectres in her own modest opinion. She had plenty of auxiliary weapons on her that had the new replaceable heat-sink system installed. The newer models tended to be smaller as since they didn't devote any space to expensive cooling units… Though she never had completely trusted them.

As a Spectre she had gotten into many long shootouts over the years. While the newer line of replaceable heatsink models could potentially give you many more shots over a short period you tended to be screwed when you ran out of the heatsinks. Whereas her HMWSG X could keep firing almost indefinitely if you timed its fire correctly. That had saved her ass on at least four missions over the past couple of years and she would rather cut off her own arm than leave it back home.

She looked up from her work as the airlock to the cargo deck opened with a whooshing noise. The human, Hadmir, had finally gotten to the meeting. She suppressed her natural stern expression on seeing him and left her face blank. These N7 trained marines the humans had tended to be quite capable soldiers but their personalities seemed to leave much to be desired. She had hated being assigned to this mission and this human in particular but she couldn't avoid the duty. There was a general mandate for more humans to enter the ranks of the Spectres. And Hadmir had an impressive amount of commendations and missions to his dossier. Perhaps once they were done with this mission she would be done with the trainee and be able to go solo as she preferred.

"So we have a Rachni problem, huh?" he said as he gave her a slow, sloppy salute. He tried to smile at her disarmingly but gave up when she let her natural expression out. "Weren't they supposed to be extinct?"

"Reports have been coming through the intelligence networks of ships with their profiles being seen through the Terminus system and some Council territories. Commander Shepard encountered them a few years back. There are also reports that Cerberus might have been doing some sort of experimentation on live Rachni. Either way they are here and according to Council policy we should consider them to be a threat."

"Have they spotted us yet?"

"No. No sign they know we are here. Could be sensor error on their part or atmospheric interference. We should know soon," said Yit hurriedly. The Salarian pushed off the cargo crate he had been sitting on while never taking his eyes off his omni-tool. His underling Unipon landed right next to him and blinked at Steven.

"Captain Yit, always a pleasure… I'm sure you're running odds on how long it will take the Rachni to detect our-"

"97.6 percent chance of detection within 35 minutes."

"-ship," said Steven with a frown.

This was going to be a problem and Yirank was going to be pissed way sooner than he should have been. He still thought this was supposed to be a colonization effort sponsored by the Council. It was really a covert operation that was headed jointly by the Alliance and the STG with limited oversight from the Council by Boost.

"We have very limited armaments on this vessel…" said Steven as he leaned against a cargo container.

"According to database Rachni ship to ship armaments are not top grade. Mostly known for infantry tactics. Quite likely boarding will be attempted. No doubt will want to study us, find out purpose of our visit."

"How many guns do we have on this ship, Boost?" said Steven with more than a little despair in his tone.

"Roughly two dozen. Most of those are primarily side-arms from the six security officers on the ship, then the non-lethal electricity based weapons that were supposed to be for colonial defense. That isn't counting yours, Yit's, Unipon's, and my own."

Steven frowned. "Really? You guys went to the effort of packing non-lethal weapons? Lieutenant Unipon, you know this isn't really a colony mission, right?"

Unipon twitched slightly and rubbed the pistol strapped to his side. "Was necessary. Statesman Yirank notorious for inspections. Checked several cargo containers. Even included mechs for perceived colony security system."

Steven smiled and his eyebrows went up. "How many mechs are we talking about here?"

Unipon looked down at the floor. "Eight cargo containers full of 72 LOKI Mechs and 2 YMIR Mechs…"

Steven laughed. "Alright! We have a chance-!"

"Only 12 LOKI mechs and 1 YMIR mech operational. The rest just shells for show," said Unipon as he finished his report lamely.

Steven deflated slightly and his breathing became shallow. "This just isn't our day, is it?"

Boost chose this moment to slap a heatsink into her M-98 Widow and check the sights. "Average enough situation for a Spectre, human. You have to learn how to deal with bad odds. Not up to the job?"

The human shrugged. "We have 6 security officers with some training, 30 civilian workers, 12 LOKI mechs, a single YMIR unit, 2 STG operatives, 1 Spectre, and then myself."

Steven took a step back in surprise as Boost put fear into his heart by smiling. "See? Not bad odds at all. Now do your best and take charge otherwise I'll have to do things my way."

Steven nodded and jogged out of the cargo bay. Behind him the two Salarians began to unbox the working mechs and Boost began to ready the rest of her gear. It was time to tell the administrator he was out of a job and that the _Tinghar_ was about to go to war.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Deny an enemy a resource and you deny him victory."_ Spectre Tela Vasir

Chapter 2

Yirank scowled at the image of his underling. "The relay is covered in bio-matter? What sort of creature could do something like that?"

The turian technician shrugged. His little holographic body looked forlorn. He had followed Yirank here after serving in C-Sec for almost two decades. This was supposed to be a quiet retirement job. "I don't know, Administrator. From what we can tell it is still intact and inert. It hasn't been activated yet. But until we remove the foreign matter I wouldn't suggest starting it up again."

"So how long would it take to get that stuff off?" said Yirank as he crossed his arms. He didn't like unknowns. This system was supposed to be deserted. Could it be possible that it had some sort of native life forms that could interfere with the colony? He didn't want to go back to the Citadel to be another tiny cog in a vast ocean of politics. Not over something like this.

"If we go slowly perhaps a couple of weeks. Two days sublight to get to the Relay. We can use low power lasers to burn off the matter closest to the hull after we blast off larger chunks with accelerator fire. Then it should just be a couple of days to go through the checklists and connect the Relay to the rest of the network."

"Time until the next ships arrive?"

"A week and a half. We can make good headway by the time they are here. Then it's only a Relay jump away back to civilization."

Yirank pushed back his chair until it was locked into a lounging position. He pressed a button on his console starting his special massage program that found all the best spaces between his plates as he thought about the situation.

Some of the other leaders on the incoming vessels might have other ideas on how to deal with the issue of the Relay. They might declare that the entire mission should be called off because of the foreign matter. They might stress that the mission be taken slower and more methodically. But in either case the Relay would be necessary to reestablish contact with the Council.

"Set a course for the Relay, full thrusters. Prepare drills for those who will be utilizing the lasers and the accelerators. I want checks on all shuttles that will be involved. Understood?"

"Yes, sir! We should be ready by the time we get to the Relay."

The holographic image of the technician blinked out of existence as Steven Hadmir strode through the entryway. Yirank turned his chair on the human and sighed softly. He didn't want to deal with the attitude problems right now.

"We confirmed the location of the Relay, human. We are on course, full speed. There seems to be some issues but I have them well under hand. Now just what were-"

"Initiating code Omega," said Steven as he tapped a few buttons on his console. He ignored the surprised expression that spread across Yirank's face. For the first time the turian noticed that Steven was decked out in black, red, and white N7 armor. "Authorization Hadmir 13 Alpha 42. Full control of Project Denial is to be transferred to my console and colonization staff are to be locked out of system commands."

The ship's VI activated. "Acknowledged. Project Denial is active and control has been transferred. Alert: current heading and engine output put the _Tinghar_ at the Relay within the next 38 hours."

"What is the meaning of this? What are you doing?" Yadmir jumped up from his chair and advanced on the lone human. Steven looked at the Turian calmly and grabbed the turian's forearm. With a swift motion he suddenly had Yadmir's arm locked behind the turian's back and held him against the bridge console. The Turian blinked rapidly as he found he was completely trapped by the maneuver.

"Calm dawn, administrator. The Council funded this mission and I am working for them. A dangerous situation has arisen and I'm afraid I needed to take command earlier than planned. Now, do I need to break your arm or are you ready to listen to me?"

Yadmir shuddered and nodded slowly. "Let me go. I'll listen."

Steven released the turian's arm and frowned. "As you heard from the VI my authority is legitimate. This mission had an ulterior motive from the start. You and your people were the cover story for it. We've detected hostiles in the system and we have to react to the changing events."

Yadmir rubbed his arm slowly and glowered at Steven. "It won't be an issue, human. My kind knows how to follow the chain of command. Does this enemy have anything to do with the biomatter that is currently covering the Relay?"

"Biomatter?"

Steven's frown deepened as Yadmir told him about the sensor results and their current course that would take them to the Relay. A trip of more than a day would be completely unacceptable. If Captain Yit was right about the rachni then they might be intercepted long before they could secure the position. There was no way in hell he was going to let this slow, lightly armed colony vessel be caught in empty space.

"Captain Yit," said Steven as he held a finger against his comm, "I need you to calculate a micro-jump to the Relay then initiate it immediately. There is a clear possibility it is been compromised. What would the ETA on that be?"

"Twelve and a half minutes." Yit's comm. Signal dropped off as the Salarian cut the transmission. Steven didn't take it personally. Time was of the essence and the Salarian captain didn't concern himself with niceties anyway.

"Boost, have you readied your equipment yet?" Steven said. Yadmir looked at him with crossed arms. The turian and the asari Spectre hadn't met at this point. And unlike prominent Spectres in the past like Commander Shepard, Saren, and Tela Vasir, Boost always had been an agent that prided in herself in her ability to keep under the public's radar.

"Ready for combat." Steven suppressed a smirk as Boost's hologram came up and Yadmir flinched. The asari Spectre was decked in a special modified krogan Battlemaster armor that was emblazoned with two Spectre symbols on either side of the chest. Her helmet glowed where an image of a skull had been crafted across where her face was. The entire suit of armor was attached to a larger exoskeleton structure the size of a YMIR mech that elevated her short frame several feet in the air. There was no subtlety, guile, or sense of femininity about the hologram at all. She was death on two legs and that suited her personality to a tee.

"That thing ready for some EVA?" said Steven steadily.

"What do you have in mind?" There was no curiosity in the Spectre's voice, only business.

"We might be having some company at the Relay. Here is what I need you to do…"

The jump itself only took a couple of seconds but it was enough to put a grey tinge on Steven's face. The view of the system's star had faded back into the interstellar background and the dark silhouette of the Mass Relay was directly ahead. The shape was wrong to Steven's eyes, its tuning fork shape that should have been comprised of sleek curves was lumpy. Twice the size of the _Tinghar_ it was a silent and ominous sight.

The _Tinghar_'s floodlights drenched the object in light at a tap of the holographic console. Steven grimaced as he saw the grey-green chitin that was grafted to the surface of the Relay. There were dozens of large blisters studded the metal superstructure. As Steven watched Unipon brought up several close-up images of the structures themselves. They were covered in faintly glowing blue lines that looked like hidden tech beneath the organic secretions. Several of them had waving stalks that ended in angular graspers. Captain Yit muttered to himself as an insectoid head pushed its way out of the center of one of the blisters. Steven squinted in disbelief.

"Looks like Rachni…" Captain Yit tapped at his omni-tool.

"But look at it! It looks like one of those husks that the Geth use!" said Steven as he raised his voice and unconsciously checked that his sidearm was still securely at his side. "This is fantastic!"

"Fantastic?" Captain Yit tilted his head at Steven.

"Commander Shepard was right! The husks must be caused by the Reapers, not the Geth! Finally proof for one of humanity's heroes!"

"Supposition. There could be Geth somewhere in system. Need further data."

As the salarian finished admonishing the human the first blister exploded silently in space. The two accelerator cannons on the _Tinghar_ began firing as quickly, directed by a single silent figure perched precariously on the surface of its hull.

Steven eyed the screens that monitored Boost as she fired upon the blisters. Her helmet hid her expression but he didn't doubt that she was smiling. As he watched she launched two escape pods from the ship and clenched her hands together. He could see the a bright blue flash from her hands as the shuttles were ripped apart from the inside and their fiery components were sent hurtling towards more blisters as make-shift missiles.

It was all over in less than a minute. There were multiple pits and burn marks on the surface of the Relay, but it was clear of hostiles. Boost had managed with her biotic abilities to get rid of the Rachni before they could attempt any sort of boarding maneuvers. With the _Tinghar_'s two cannons that would have been doubtful. He let his mind wander for a brief moment and consider if she had ever done anything like that before.

_Probably._

"Multiple profiles detected emerging from planet. ETA 31 hours 43 minutes until intercept." Captain Yit deactivated his omni-tool and looked at Steven.

The human marine sighed and activated the ship's intercom system. There wouldn't be much rest anymore on this mission.

"This is acting-Captain Hadmir. All crew report to the ready-room for new assignments. This meeting is mandatory. You have ten minutes."

Steven stood up and walked into the pristine, well-lit hallway of the _Tinghar._ It was time to lead by example and the first step would be to make sure he was the first in that room.


End file.
